Quinoa is a grain with high protein content, making it an important food crop in alleviating hunger and food security in impoverished areas of the world.

In February of this year, the United National declared 2013 the International Year of the Quinoa. Yet, I’m sure not many people have even heard of quinoa, let alone know about its nutritional qualities.

Originating from Bolivia, Chile and Peru around 5,000 years ago, quinoa is a grain that is growing in popularity across the country. Consumed like rice and used to make flour, soup, cereals or alcohol, quinoa is very nutritious due to its high protein content, making it an important food crop in alleviating hunger and food security in impoverished areas of the world.

Currently, Bolivia and Peru are the leading producers of quinoa, with nearly 80 percent of the world production, while the United States imports 45 percent of the world quinoa production. Since the 1980s, researchers in the United States have been trying to re-establish quinoa production. Although U.S. production has risen since the 1980’s, with Colorado and Nevada being the pioneer states, the production remains insignificant relative to the favorable climatic conditions, technological potential and demand within this country. Research is needed to help support and sustain this rapidly rising industry.

In 2012, USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded Washington State University (WSU) a grant through the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative. The grant will help develop adapted varieties and optimal management practices for quinoa production in diverse environmental conditions. Additionally, this new knowledge will be disseminated to Extension educators who can educate producers.

As a partial result of this funding, WSU sponsored a conference on quinoa research on August 12-14 in Pullman, Washington. The International Quinoa Research Symposium featured presentations from quinoa experts from around the world. The participant list was diverse, with people coming from as far away as Egypt, Tibet and Australia. The conference included hands-on demonstrations at area field trials, along with discussions and presentations of current research.

As the conference coincided with the International Year of the Quinoa, it helped put the spotlight on this important crop that has potential to improve food security and nutrition while ultimately working toward internationally-agreed upon development goals for the extermination of poverty.

I get very concerned when non-native plant are introduced to new areas with out sufficient evidence that they will not become intrusive eg. Russian olive, Japanese bamboo, Matrimony vine,purple loose strife and many others. Often the introduced species are not as valuable as the plants that are displaced by their introduction

From what I just read, I don’t see it becoming a staple crop like wheat, sorgum or other grains. It doesn’t lend itself to mechanized harvest, as the stalks have multiple heads and they mature at different rates.
But if you were in favor of a specialty crop, and had access to the manual labor for harvesting – go for it. You can read a lot more about Quinoa on Wikipedia, including it’s history and horticultural data:

Vance: It is good to be thoughtful. More study is better than fear. Keep in mind this is a cultivated annual, no more invasive than the existing “weedy” species of chenopodium in the US and elsewhere. The “intrusive” species you named were not grown for food. It could be welcome as naturalized food plant.

We are the pioneer of quinoa a reseacher and planting in China. The critical facts for quinoa is sea level height and temperature(lower than 32C). and seed treatment ,sowing is very important for quinoa success planting.

Quinoa can be eaten like rice and wheat. We are growing in india. I wish to grow in New York and North Carolina. i request the people growing in USA to help me with information and any seed that is growing well in USA. My email ID is srao123@gmail.com

@Scott, you said “From what I just read, I don’t see it becoming a staple crop like wheat, sorgum or other grains. It doesn’t lend itself to mechanized harvest, as the stalks have multiple heads and they mature at different rates.” But, that is the reason wsu and the usda are trialing varieties, to find those traits. I’m excited about the potential and am integrating quinoa into my permaculture system. I will also experiment with brewing a tasty beer. Search for Ives Organics to find results.

We brought quinoa from Peru, Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina to the United States in 1982 and evaluated a total of 113 varieties. Most of the varieties were very day-length sensitive, requiring too short a day or too long a season for temperate Colorado. Varieties developed from coastal Chile and southern Bolivia, however, were very productive in the high elevations of southwestern Colorado. These became the basis for U.S. production.

@joe jolelini – thank you for your question. We suggest contacting Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Government of Canada’s agriculture resource for its citizens. Contact information for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada can be found here: http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/contact-us/?id=1360882573376#a1